Fleet war Badge with Diamonds

[Dietrich Maerz]

On the website of Mr. Hüsken is a Fleet War Badge with Diamonds for sale - with provenance! The badges comes - so Mr. Hüsken - from the estate of Generaladmiral Schniewind. It was first auctioned of 1992 by the Hanseatisches Auktionshaus für Historica. It even comes with a signed award document from Doenitz which reads:

"Herewith I award to
Generaladmiral
Otto Schiewind
in recognition of his great merits in the leading
of the fleet
the
Fleet War Badge
with Diamonds."

July 20, 1944 (sic!)

It even comes with a case. And it only costs € 42,000.-

I was under the impression that only oakleaves winner of the Kriegsmarine got the badge they earned before in diamonds. Schniewind never got the oakleaves. I was also under the impression that the diamond war badges of the Kriegsmarine were no official awards and could therefore not the "awarded". I was also under the impression that all the diamond badges were given to the oakleave recipients by Dr. h.c. Raeder and never was there an "award" document.

I also was under the impression that only one soldier during the Third Reich was eligible for the Fleet War Badge with Diamonds. And that soldier was Admiral Theodor Kranke. And that is what can be found in old and new literature. And he never got one!

Here is the link to the 'unique' item:

http://www.huesken.com/shop/de/krieg...ind-45047.html

[Leroy]

All Kriegsmarine diamond badges, to my understanding, were indeed the private award of the Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine.

[Dietrich Maerz]

Gentry,

Partially true. It was always Raeder. In the beginning in his capacity as Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine and later in his capacity as Admiralinspekteur. Doenitz never presented any diamond badges.

Dietrich

PS: maybe my opinion came not fully through in my (ironic) post: I think that the badge, the case, the document and the story is a fake!

[Bob Hritz]

Come on! Many collectors do not let the facts interfere with the acquisition of a 'rare treasure'.

Bob Hritz

[Leroy]

Dietrich,
I fully agree that all the documented pieces are from Raider. For years, there have been "stories" of awards from Doenitz, but none have ever seemed to be verified.
Best,
Gentry


Bob - How right you are!

[DTS]

Scratch above post. If you switch the site to English, it falls under "reproductions" category. Still... over $500 for a repro you can get on ebay for $25.

[peter m]

They also have Grand cross for sale for 58000 euros.

[Allan P.]

Come on! Many collectors do not let the facts interfere with the acquisition of a 'rare treasure'.

Bob Hritz

Absolutely right Bob.

Many collectors will not accept that my balloon badge with diamonds stamped '750' L/3261 acquired from a friend of a friend of a vet is indeed a rare treasure.

Allan

[Nordmark]

He has a lot of bad stuff on his site. You should know your field when buying at the "Galerie d´ Histoire".




Daniel

[Alex K.]

PS: maybe my opinion came not fully through in my (ironic) post: I think that the badge, the case, the document and the story is a fake!

Well, the case looks like an original case for the Spanish Cross in Silver.